>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'll del walters. here's are the stories we're following for you. >> the president is ultimately responsible for the rollout. >> no sir, we're responsibl resr the roll glout trying to pi out. >> trying to pin out who is responsible for the health exchange. >> and geneva talks and getting them off the ground. roma people fighting segregation that they say they face in europe.

>> the person in charge of implementing president obama's healthcare reform law was on the hot seat today on capitol hill. health and human services secretary kathleen is he begout facing hours of questions from lawmakers over the troubled insurance website and others issues as well. several republican lawmakers on the committee using the hearing to make the comparison to a famous state where sebelius was governor. >> well, madam secretary, while you're from can kansas, we're nn kansas any mother. some might say that we're in t "the wizard of oz" given the parallel universe. while some think things are great. you, apparently, and you apologized and said it was a debacle, you also seem this think that the affordable care act is great while myself and others have a different view.

>> and again kathleen sebelius, the health and human services secretary did apologize for the problems but that was not enough for some members of congress. here to talk about some of the glitches that are framing these hearings is andrew, ceo of c.t.o. software, a company that launches government website from irving, california. the websites are nothing new. people log on to expedia, they expect to travel. they log on to amazon, they expect to buy something. why is this so difficult? >> this is true. it's nothing unusual to handle large volume. quite honestly, i'm just as confused in where the problem is handling the many millions of people who want to log on to the site. >> they say one of the biggest problems right now is the volume. you've designed websites for the

government. how do you design a website for the government and not expect to receive millions of hits. if that's the case, what happened this time? >> you know, it's typical or historical when we launch anything for the government to do what we call load testing. so we anticipate how many visitors we're going to get and simulate the situation to accommodate that many hits to the website. how this went happen i can't imagine how to launch an interface to the government without this level of testing. >> are the problems that consumers are seeing with this particular website, is that indicative of what happens when you do those so-called load testing tests? >> it is. and it's specifically why we do load testing, so we can anticipate how much volume we can support ultimately so that we can create either additional hardware situations or virtual hardware situations where we can quickly expand the band width where we can support more

people. this should have been discovered through the process. >> there were reports that no one from the big computer companies were called in who are usually synonymous with storage, does this trouble you, and if so, why were they not involved? >> it's not that they need to be involved, but they can deck straight how they can support hundreds of millions of hits as a normal practice. i'm surprised they weren't consulted on an advisory level or organizations themselves have done this time and time again. you know, more than anything it just prices me that the protocols were not in place, or maybe the protocols were in place but maybe the results were ignored. it's just so surprise to go me that whoever was advising the government on this was not bringing this to attention. >> surprising is a word that you're using over and over again. it seems, and we talke talked at this with expedia, amazon, that these things are a thing of the past.

if you were doing things, what would you have done differently? >> 100% we would have run a mock scenario. we would have done the necessary load testing at the very least so we know if we can manage calls headline risks for our government, and mitigate the lack of confidence that they are going to be faced with. to be sure that we can support the volume of visitors at the very least and carry out the mission safely and securitily. >> you don't believe, and kathleen sebelius, secretary of health and human services, said that this will be up and running by the end of november. you don't think that's going to happen, do you? >> well, you know my largest concern is if, in fact, this is just a band width issue these are solutions that should be fixed fairly quickly. scenarios where 24, 48 hours we're able to put in virtual

hardware to support this volume. knowing this is telling me where there is smoke there is fire. this is potentially a bigger problem. if this is, in fact, within the code, a serious development issue, then my concern is that it would need at a minimum, 30-days minimum testing. by november 30s i can't imagine them putting the patches in place and give it the adequate amount of testing necessary to properly launch this. >> andrew joining us live from irvine, california, he's the ceo of hotb software, and they launch government software. thank you very much. president obama is scheduled to appear in boston. he'll be promoting the healthcare plan. he'll be speaking at the annual hall where mitt romney signed the massachusetts health reform law into law. romney backed the plan when he was governor but opposed it when he was running in his presidential campaign.

90% residents in massachusetts have health insurance. the social security administration said the annual coscost of living adjustment or cola, is going to rise by 1.5%. some 58 million americans get their social security benefits, most of them seniors. the national security agency is now denying allegations it is accessed the website and servers of yahoo and google. as keith alexander telling politico, tapping those links the agency could collect data from hundreds ever millions of user accounts. u.s.-arab league peace envoy meet with syriamet with syrian r

al-assad. trying to persuade the current regime and the increasingly divided opposition to come to the negotiating table. their meeting coming as a damascus suburb currently under siege by government forces. we have more on that evacuation. >> reporter: this is a rare moment of relief and cooperation between regime forces, rebel groups and aid workers. some 1800 syrians have been trapped and were allowed to leave as cease-fire con tyneed to this one area. officials say the civilians were taken to temporary shelters, all the parties cooperated well. >> we have received the call from inside, and from the peop people, that they would prefer to go out because it's not only

a matter of eating, but also it's a matter, you know, of security. so we agreed on this basis, and everyone was a partner. >> reporter: the government is eagle for show that they cooperated and facilitated the withdraw. >> the people now leaving are the last people leaving after the agreement between national security, social affairs and the damascus county governor. >> reporter: others are cynical and doubt the motivate of the rebels and regime forces. for president bashar al-assad, the neighborhood now free of civilians could allow for tactical military advantage as his forces seek to strengthen their control of damascus. for rebel groups it gives them a moment to rest and regroup during the short cease-fire in place. but whatever the reason for the move, the residents are

thankful. >> this is like medicine for us. thanks for that, god help you, and thanks to the syrian army. may god protect them. >> reporter: this is not an isolated case. forces have one tactic throughout the country when it comes to rebel-held neighborhoods. they blockade them and keep food and the supplies out. so much of this war is concentrated around these check points and these block cases. >> chinese police are saying five them have now been arrested in connection with what they're calling a suicide car attack. five people including two tourists died when the car exploded on monday. the police say gasoline and others items were founds inside that vehicle. the suspects are said to be part of ethnic group battling chinese security forces for years. at least 45 people are dead in india after their bus crashed and exploded into flames. the driver of the private bus

were among the seven survivers. he tried to pass a car. the pus ben hit an ex-instruction and it exploded about. india has the deadliest roads in the world, 510 people are killed each and every year in that country. a little girl thrust roma, sometimes referred to as gypsies back in the national spotlight. we have a story of a family now in search of a better life. >> reporter: she likes to welcome guests with a coffee, but she's forced to serve it outdoors. inside the trailer she calls home there is barely face for her newborn twins. this is where she lives with her husband and four children. hopes to be relocated to a social housing property quickly fading away. >> they say i'm roma and social

housing is for italians. but i'm italian citizen, too. it's not my fault that i was born to roma parents in a camp. i haver a right to a decent ho home. >> one of 400 members who live in an overcrowded camp infested by rats. illness is rife with bouts of hepatitis a and scabsies among children. this camp was built to house 600 people but now twice as many live here in very poor conditions. this was meant to be temporary accommodation, but for most this is now home. a report by amnesty international published on wednesday said in italy there is a two-track housing system that discriminates against roma

people. >> they have been condemned several times over the last ten years by human rights, council of europe, the u.n. and they keep doing it. there hasn't been no political way to address the demands of romas. >> reporter: the city councilor in rome said she wants to end segregation through integration. >> we need to learn to live together. their reputation as kno momads e observe sow least. >> keep calling this camp home. >> the pope who makes a new friend. check him out. he just won't leave his side.

to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life.

[[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours.

>> returning to our top story health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius just wrapped up her testimony on capitol hill. she was answering questions about problems with the healthcare exchanges, their website. randall pinkston is there now, my guess is she was there for more than four hours, grueling testimony. >> reporter: almost four hours, and yes, the testimony was grueling. especially by republican members of the committee by the failure of the website, about security weakness and her broken promises of having the website up and running by october. you played an is satirical statement about her state, kansas, and "the wizard of oz." and some came away saying

they did not believe her representation that they'll fix everything by november. >> her admission, how many people signed up? i don't know. how many people have been on the phone? i don't know. how many are the counts, i don't know. we have no way of knowing what she has told us is true yet the president of the united states are making claims that millions have called in. it's an admission that the system is not working and it won't be working any time soon. >> he thinks that secretary sebelius should resign or be fired. >> the democrats were somewhat kinder. what were they saying about kathleen sebelius and her testimony? >> reporter: in a nutshell they were helping to make the case that the affordable care act, notwithstanding the problem, is beginning to work. they pointed out states where there are, indeed, those exchanges that have been set up where people are getting online.

they are getting insurance. here is it representative butterfield from north carolina. >> my republican colleagues do not want this website to work. i'm convinced of that. they want to block the aca at all costs and even shut down the government to stop the law. but the last four years they have taken every glitch, every simple glitch and hiccup and tried to exaggerate its significance. that's happening today, and it's so disappointing. >> reporter: and the democrats say the republicans are in a word being hypocritical when they claim to want to do something to see that the system is working. del? >> randall, there seems to be contention as to who ultimately bore the blame. secretary sebelius cleared that up very quickly. >> reporter: absolutely. she said she bears responsibility. that she will do everything she can to fix it. keep in mind that she reportedly had offered to resign and said

that she will be there to serve the president as long as he wants her to be there. there are some suggestions that the president had been thinking about possibly dismissing her, but everything from the white house officially and unofficially said those reports were not true. the president is going to stick by her. he's going to put pressure on her and her team to get everything working, but it wouldn't make sense at this point to change horses, if you will, in the middle of the stream at this point of the affordable care act to get it up and running. kathleen sebelius has been in charge of building it, and largely the person to make sure that it does function. >> randall pinkston joining us live from capitol hill. thank you very much. >> take a look at wall street. stocks are cooling off from their record-set iting base as

investors await news from the federal reserve. and waiting to hear the future of the $80 billion a month stimulus program. and the dow down almost two points. another disappointing jobs report on the job market. private sector employers adding 30,000 workers this month. that is well below estimates. one economist warning if those numbers don't start to come up more than 150,000 is what they need to see, he said, we could be seeing a rise in unemployment. g.m. general motors saying they ran out of gas last quarter. it's profit fell 53% compared to a year ago claims $800 million charge to buy stock for union retirees and said that sales in europe softened a bit. steve jobs changed every's

lives with this thing called the ipad. now his childhood is going to be preserve. this home where he grew up is now in a storage site. the garage is where steve jobs built some of the first apple computers. take a look at these images. while talking to thousands at st. peter's square pope francis made a new friend. the little boy sat in the chair and just wouldn't move. an aid tried to get the little boy off the stage, but it didn't work. instead the boy wrapped his arms around the pope, and the pope didn't mind. at one point he had--there you go. some how i think his parents are going to remember that for a long time. up next on al jazeera america. >> it is reported that at 8:50 a

meteorite fell on a farm in new jersey. >> it was all make believe but the anniversary of the war of the world broadcast is just as real as it has ever been.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are your headlines. for three hours lawmakers grilled health and human secretary kathleen sebelius for website healthcare.gov . sebelius promised it would be running by november. recipients of social security will see slightly larger checks neck week. only by 1.5%. one of the smallest increases since the 1970s.

hostages set free after being held for three years. they were in n.iger where they worked in mines. we have more now from the small new jerseytown where this story took place. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen, from the meridian room in new york city, we bring you the music. >> reporter: 75 years after the cbs radio production of the war of the worlds foo fooled many americans thinking that a martian invasion was under way, they were at it again in the town where they said the aliens have landed. >> we bring you a special bulletin. >> reporter: actor orson welles reeled in their unsuspecting

audience with a mixture of dance music and news bulletins. >> it fooled people at that time. >> reporter: war was brewing in europe. the u.s. was on edge. what would you think if you heard this coming out of your old time radio. >> a bulletin, martians are crawling all over the country. >> reporter: this was a different era. you have the dad, the mom and the boy listening to the radio absolutely terrified of the broadcast. welles said it was equivalent to putting a white sheet over your body, jumping out and saying boo. phone lines to the authorities were jammed. >> i think there was something like over 2,000 phone calls to the trenton police in three hours. people were using party lines as

well. it's not like today where everyone had a cell phone. it was a big deal. >> reporter: frank and his wife run the coffee shop where they host the war of the worlds regularly. the question asked a lot could it happen today. >> absolutely in a heartbeat i think it could. there is a lot of fear, a lot of terror, a lot of things that scare us. if it was put into something modern today, online, facebook. >> reporter: scared, the whole country was scared. >> large, large as a bear, and it glistened like wet weather. it's indescribable. i can barely look at it. >> reporter: they fell for it, but today they simply revel in it. >> 75 years later the rover did land on mars. surveys found two-thirds of

those living believed there was an actual alien invasion. years later orson welles apologized. he said he didn't know it was going to be broadcast nationwide. >> now we're looking at weather across the nation, and quite a change from the west coast to the east coast, and right in the middle where you're getting the boundary between the cold and the warm air. we're seeing strong to severe thunderstorms develop. they're moving through oklahoma cans, missouri, iowa, and now they'll continue to move east. not a solid line but isolated strong and severe storms moving through the country's midsection there. now there was a severe thunderstorm through parts of the area, but this is oklahoma, texas, no longer severe warnings in affect. this was one strong storm weakened a bit. it had strong gusting wind and hail, it did hold together, and it will continue to move to the east. this area has the potential to

see more severe weather throughout the afternoon and evening. now out west the storm causing this has moved out. we're seeing a few snowflakes come down in idaho. to the east there is warm air. as the warm air moves in from the south we could see some light showers and drizzle. this area is moving from west to east. so the temperatures will continue to climb along the mid-atlantic states in the northeast into the 70s. a very warm end of the week but with that comes the showers and storms. timing looks like thursday. it will be through the great lakes and down through the midwest, the mississippi river, holding off thursday night and friday with the heavy rain along the coast. so the temperatures will be cooling off in chicago once the rain clears out. back into the 50s on friday and saturday. similar situation in new york just a date later. del? >> thank you very much, thanks for watching al jazeera america.

"techknow" is next. and remember there is no such thing as vale yens. >> hello and welcome, i'm phil torres, talking about innovations that can save live. we'll do it in a unique way. this is a show about scientists. let's check out the team. kyle hill is an engineer. he's on the trail of something decimating bee population. >> crystal dilworth is a molecular neuroscientist. she shows us california's hi tech grapes - how science can achieve perfection in a glass. i'm phil torres. i'm an